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June 1, 2009Tribe Softens the Blow….Takes Down The Yankees
June 1, 2009
There were a lot of things that made me sick this weekend:
- The Cavaliers lackluster performance in Game Six.
- The fact that at the end of the game, TNT decided to show another montage of the history of Cleveland Sports heartbreaks, starting with Red Right 88 and heading all the way to the ’07 3-1 ALCS collapse of the Indians against eventual World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.
- Knowing that Tomo Ohka is on the Indians roster.
- The stomach ache I suffered after picking up Chinese food from Ho Wah.
But in reality, the worst thing was the makeup of the crowds at both Friday and Saturday night’s Tribe/Yankees games. I was lucky enough to be in a box for Saturday’s tilt where CC Sabathia made his return to the mound at Progressive Field. (SIDE NOTE – I refuse to call it a “loge.” Nobody outside of Cleveland uses that word, therefore it is minor league.) Two things struck me.
I expected to see some sort of reaction when CC took the hill in the bottom of the first inning. Boos or cheers, I wanted to see something from the Tribe fans. Outside of myself and four others, nobody made a sound either way. It was very odd. (FYI – If you boo CC, then you should have your ticket revoked. The big man gave us everything he had and did noting but throw bouquets at our city and fans.) Then I realized why – the Jake (I also refuse to call it “Progressive Field”) was packed to the gills with Yankees fans. I’m telling you, it was nauseating. Walking in, I saw more Jeter and Joba shirts than I saw Sizemore and Martinez. I saw more pinstripes than Chief Wahoo’s or script I’s. More Navy than Red, White, and Blue.
I was waiting for my friends who had our tickets outside of the home run plaza, and every 10 seconds, another couple of people in Yankee gear walked by me. But two guys particularly caught my fancy. Both were in Yankee pinstripe jerseys, one was fat and bald with a deep New York accent. Baldy kept asking people if they needed two tickets, but in the most obnoxious manner. Finally, after about five minutes, he yells out at the top of his lungs “your team sucks so bad that nobody wants these? What a joke this city is. I could sell these at The new Stadium for $500 a piece.” It took every fiber of my being to not walk up to this jamoke and jack him in the face (if you’ve seen me in person, you know the real reason why I didn’t do that).
This was all before the runs started pouring in.
When Jorge Posada hit a solo homer in the second inning, had you closed you eyes, you would have thought you were at Yankee Stadium. It was that loud. Annoying bandwagon Yankee fans were everywhere. Before walking in to the Jake that night, I had the opinion that the Red Sox had passed their hated rivals as most annoying fan base in baseball. About 7:45 Saturday night, I changed my stance.
Every hit the Yankees got off of the extremely shaky Fausto Carmona, every run that they scored, the Yankee fans got more boisterous. The only good news for me was that by 8:30 when the Cavs game tipped, I completely tuned these people out. Bottom line, unless you were born in New York or your father grew up a Yankees fan, therefore he put it on you (kinda like how my brother raises his son a Tribe fan, despite living in another state), rooting for teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cowboys, or Lakers makes you nothing but a bandwagon front runner. To me, people like this are the lowest rung of sports fans.
I was born and raised on Cleveland sports. My father was at the 1964 NFL Championship game and hundreds of Browns, Cavs, and Indians games after that. He raised me and my brother on guys like Andre Thornton, Ernie Camacho, and Brook Jacoby. I thought prospects like Greg Swindell and Luis Medina would be all-star caliber players one day. I sat through the Paul McDonald era at QB and watched “The Lord” Bernie Kosar grow from a boy to a man. I idolized Webster Slaughter and Eddie Johnson. I watched World B. Free and Mike Mitchell, Mark West and Mark Price, Henry James and Mike Sanders at the arena seemingly in the middle of nowhere, Richfield, Ohio.
I was unlucky enough to attend both “The Drive” and “The Shot.” After both events, we sat in the car in silence while stuck in the parking lots. I remember my father kicking one of my toys when Tommy Kramer hit Ahmad Rashad on a Hail Mary on the last play of the game in Minnesota in 1980 to beat the Browns. “The Fumble” brought me to tears at age 11. Jose Mesa’s choke literally made me so sick to my stomach that I vomited profusely in my Lawrence, Kansas apartment (this is a true story that can be corroborated by several sources). And you know something, I wear it all as a badge of courage and I own it. That is what growing up a Cleveland sports fan is all about.
My father had to suffer, so why shouldn’t I? I have to suffer, so my kids will have to as well. At this point, all we as Cleveland sports loyalists can do is sick back and embrace it. It is what we are. One day, it will all change, and we won’t know what to do with ourselves or how to react. But for now, we all just sit here, Waiting For Next Year.
29 Comments
I prefer “suite.”
No lie, there was a guy in full Yankees regalia during an Indians/Tigers game a few weeks ago. He heard it from both sides…
Aren’t the Indians the minor league team for the Yankees?
Oh nevermind, that is 26 MLB teams. I gave up on MLB ten years ago.
I actually prefer going to the minor league games in Akron (and hopefully make a few in Columbus).
And the Yankees only come to town once a year now so this is to be expected.
This post would say that Lebron is the lowest rung of sports fan. TD, while I understand that your dad raised you a Cleveland fan (my dad did as well), guys like Lebron had no father to show them the ropes. When you learn on your own you learn from the best. Cleveland has never been the best. I don;t care who you cheer for as long as you stick with them through the good and bad. The fan I don’t like is the one who switches favorite teams year in and year out
Hahahaha. Ho Wah is actually Chinese for “food poisoning.” I’ve lost my stomach the last two times I’ve eaten there.
But I’m sure that happens any time you eat your weight in shrimp chips.
@4. Right on – agree 100%. Your Dad in most case influences who you root for. His wasn’t around.
Do what I do, just ask for the score from the first regular season game at the new Yankee Stadium.
Greetings you Cleveburg Brother In Sports! My brother and I shared ALL your experiences (including being at most of the games you mentioned); and me being a geezer, I started even earlier than you with the ’54 Tribe collapse; and I can even remember fleeing from a Sunday dinner table in tears of frustration when the Browns lost in the last second of a game against the Giants in ’58 or so. (STILL brings a “man tear” to my eyes!)
So, what’s the key to our sports souls? Well, it is the fact that WE NEVER GIVE UP HOPING FOR A SWEET SPORTS DELIVERANCE….NEVER….NEVER…NEVER SAY DIE!!!!!
And ‘ya know what? I truly believe that we enjoy not only Cleveland sports MORE, but most forms of sports competition MORE than the average sports fans around North America. The ups, the downs, the unexpected plays and outcomes. IT IS ALL SUCH A GREAT RUSH that MOST folks don’t EVER get to experience. And someday, because of our many trial by fires too numerous to mention, our eventual victory will be that much sweeter…but the point is that we all have learned to ENJOY THE RIDE, not so much the destination!
And I feel that I have to mention the fact that I have had a mountain to climb to get to this attitude, in that my brother died in Denver on a road trip to see the Cavs take on the [slang for Nuggets] back in ’92….AS IF I needed another reason to hate that hellhole!!!
Sooooo, how does this relate to the Yankee fans showing up at the Jake? Well, first, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!! I’ve been to games all up and down the east coast, and the deal has always been that because it was difficult to get tickets to old Yankee stadium, Yankee fans would travel MANY miles to catch a game. I have been to MANY Yankee/Jays games in Toronto and it was exactly like your experience…….TIMES TWO!!! Many times we screamed ourselves horse interpolating the word JAYS into their “Let’s Go Yankees” chant, and, HEY, we even managed to shout them down a few times!!! It will be interesting to see if this remains the case with new passport requirements at the border, and the effects of the recesssion on ticket sales.
Anyways….THANKS VERY MUCH for your blog….KEEP ON CHOOGLIN’!!!!!
Perhaps some of those Yankees fans find it less expensive to fly to Cleveland, book a hotel, and see the away game than to gain entrance into the palace of corporate greed that is now Yankee Stadium.
Being a fan of Cleveland sports is a trying thing right now. As a fan that grew up in Western MA (yes, my Dad cursed me to this existence) it’s never been easy being in the middle of winning franchises in Boston and NY. I live near NYC right now, and it’s more unbearable than ever.
My wife asked me why I keep putting myself through this – I was really pissy on Saturday night – I stopped watching the Cavs game at halftime – I knew the outcome already. I guess the only answer I come back to is that if you’re a real fan, this is what you’re supposed to do. Live through the garbage years, the gut punches, and the doubt. That way, when you finally win one, it’ll feel so much better.
I’ve often told my friends that I must be cursed to be from Cleveland and therefore a Cleveland sports fan. I’ve been asked many times “why not just move to a city with a good team to root for?”
It just cant be done. No matter what, I was born here and spent my childhood at the old Cleveland Municipal, or Cleveland Arena. No matter where I live in the world, my heart will be with the Tribe, Cavs, and Browns.
Someday I’ll be able to stand proud, most likely with tears streaming down my face. I’ll either look up to the sky, or maybe fall to the ground, too weak with happiness, and wish that my dad would be around to see this championship.
…unless that proverbial bus with my name on it gets me 1st.
Suck it up and take the pain like a man. Too many Cleveland pansies with all their “Woe is me” crap. I figured people ’round here could deal with soul-crushing defeat a little better.
I was born in 1983.
My first football memory is The Fumble. (My father was at The Drive.)
My first basketball memory is The Shot.
At least my first baseball memory is the first game I went to, where the Tribe routed the Yankees 11-3.
LMAO @ #11.. What a tough guy.
I did a similar write-up. Excuse the pity-party, I am still recovering.
http://www.zfcomics.com/2009/06/01/in-other-news-a-cleveland-sports-rant/
CC gave us everything he had except when it really mattered
Here’s a little perspective from someone who is about twice the age of most of you who are divulging your birthdates: it’s better to compete and get your hearts broken in the playoffs than to suck year after year, to have team owners barely meeting payroll for cast-off players, to never competing for even a playoff spot, to listening to people in Boston try to tell you that the near misses of the Red Sox damages a fan’s psyche worse that being out of contention before you start. That’s what I grew up with. I had a chilled bottle of champagne IN MY HAND when Mesa choked. But watching the Indians in that game was much better than watching some other team.
Re the Cavs: being crushed is not the same as being cursed. This was a lot closer to the 1954 Indians that won 111 games and were then swept in the world series. I am not broken-hearted, I’ve seen much worse. Pounded into submission by Orlando that the front office can’t delude themselves into still thinking that we are just “this” close and that the team must be built to beat Boston. Ferry know this. And, by the way, if Orlando keeps playing this way and handles the Lakers the same way, there will be other organizations doing similar soul-searching.
Don’t assume they’re local front-runners. It’s cheaper to fly to Cleveland and buy scalped tickets than to get into yankee Stadium II.
Well said Harv. I could not agree more.
I can remember when we used to go to an Indians game at the old stadium and the best part of being there was sitting in a different seat every half inning. Even though Cleveland is still a laughing stock for the rest of the country, at least we are showing that we can be competitive. Oops I forgot about the Browns, at they are now being touted at the 31st worst team in the league. Maybe just Maybe we won’t be that bad!
be happy the Cavs are competative. do you want Ted Stepian back?
I am old to have seen Willie Mays make his catch off of Vic Wertz/
It is not a sport anymore but nothing but entertainment business.
this loss was not like the others.
there is light at the end of the tunnel.
there will be parade someday down Euclid Ave
we should be happy to have three teams to enjoy whether they are winners or not.
to all Cleveland fans as Chris Rose had said:
You are all 90% scar tissue
Nice article, you should’ve punched that bald yankee in the face. But either way, I still hate the Red Sox more…..
im proud to be a cleveland sports fan which i inherited from my parents and grandparents, scars and all. at least we HAVE a history, painful as it may be. id rather have that than no true passion at all.
bridgecrosser should walk into the Hairy Buffalo and say that to your local bar patron and see who is the real pansy. anyway, perfect article, sums up my thoughts exactly
What made me sick was at a bar downtown on Saturday night quite a few Yankee fans walked in and not one person said anything. In fact as I was leaving I said to one that I hope he enjoys his team joking in October. Of course he couldn’t respond to that. Come on Cleveland fans, when igornant fans like that are around please stick up for the city.
Here I was, like a moron, thinking Harv was 21 years old.
@#25 Denny: well, maturity level closer to 14 (per my wife and kids), so maybe need to change screen name.
I think it is high time that the heartbreak this city has endured end now ONCE AND FOR ALL! And that means PERMANENTLY.
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